Biro Tata Negara (National Civics Bureau, or simply BTN) is an agency of the Malaysian government in the Prime Minister's Department. It was established in 1974 as the Youth Research Unit (Unit Penyelidikan Belia) under the Youth Ministry, but was renamed and transferred in 1981.

BTN's stated objective is to nurture the spirit of patriotism and commitment to excellence among Malaysians, and train leaders and future leaders to support the nation's development efforts.

BTN's programmes are controversial, and many accuse them of promoting ketuanan Melayu and the governing Barisan Nasional.

On 25 November 2009, the Selangor state government issued a ban prohibiting state civil servants, employees of state subsidiaries, and students at state-owned institutions from attending BTN courses. Read here for more

"...The Deputy Prime Minister says one thing. The BTN website says another. No, let not the words come out of my mouth. Let it instead come out from the ‘mouth’ of the BTN website (http://www.btn.gov.my/). Let the course module speak for itself. If you are not clever enough to read between the lines and catch the subtle message in this BTN website, then you are not smart enough to be a Malaysia Today reader...." Read here for more

These days, the idea of Ketuanan Melayu is going bankrupt, sinking with the bahtera merdeka. It works only for Malay robber barons who wish to plunder the nation by silencing the masses and using the ideological state apparatuses at their disposal.

In the case of the BTN it is the work of controlling the minds of the youth. The work of BTN should be STOPPED and should NOT be allowed anymore in our educational institutions.

It is time our universities especially are spared of counter-educational activities, especially when they yearned to be free from the shackles of domination. Look at what has happened and what is still happening to our institutions with the University and University Colleges Act and the Akujanji Pledge...." Read here for more

I am one of the privileged few to have attended a local public university and learned the meaning of hate, thanks to the ever popular Biro Tata Negara.

All undergraduates were forced to attend this programme or else they would not be eligible for graduation.

The BTN under the Prime Minister’s Department brought in “intellectual” speakers who were supposed to enlighten the students about the meaning of being a Malaysian but instead it felt more like a communist propaganda camp brainwashing those attending about the importance of “Ketuanan Melayu”.

The camp would usually take place during the weekends. Students would have to register early in the morning and the programme would last the whole day.

The organisers were always on their guard, asking participants to show their student identification cards each time they entered the hall, fearing the presence of outsiders.

In the hall, students were asked to turn off their mobile phones.

During the lectures, questions were planted among the audience and the students were advised not to ask any other questions.

One speaker began with the history of Malaysia and how much the country had gone through, always emphasising the May 13 riots.

He stressed the point of how much the Malays had sacrificed and how the community should be united especially from outside threat — the Chinese community.

He said that the Chinese community were “the Jews of Asia” and were just itching to take over when Malays were disunited and broken.

The speaker also revealed a greater Chinese conspiracy where the Chinese Malaysians were working together with Singapore to topple the Malay government.

“Do you want to become like the Malays in Singapore?” he asked.

He also went so far as to criticise Malay girls for dating boys from other races.

He added that they should not be cheap and embarrass their families.

Once, a student told the speaker that as Muslims, we should also respect other races who are also Muslims.

“All Muslims are Malays so it does not matter if they are Chinese or Indians. If they are Muslims then they are Malays,” the speaker replied.

This is why I was relieved when I learned that the Selangor government had moved to ban its civil servants, employees of state subsidiaries and students at state-owned education institutions from attending any BTN courses with immediate effect.

However I believe racism in varsities does not end at BTN because classrooms have also become victims of ignorant scholars.

My friend was verbally abused during his sociology class when he did not agree with the points made by his lecturer.

“You must be DKK,” the lecturer told him.

“What is DKK?” he asked.

“You must be darah keturunan keling (descendents of Indians),” the lecturer said, pointing to his dark skin.

My Saudi friend was also shocked by the comments made by his lecturer in his Islamic civilisation class.

“We should save our Orang Asli from the Chinese people. They are like the Palestinians and the Chinese are Israel. We must fight the Jews,” the lecturer told his students.

The lecturer even failed one of his students in his oral exam when he quoted a Western scholar in his presentation.

“You should be ashamed of yourselves. You are a Muslim and should only use Islamic scholars,” he scolded the student.

I was personally saddened when my Islamic law lecturer compared Christianity to Head & Shoulder’s 3 in 1 shampoo in referring to the religion’s Holy Trinity.

I feel that racism has been institutionalised in our country and that BTN is only the tip of the iceberg.

Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin defended BTN yesterday and claimed that it was not racist but is line with the 1 Malaysia concept.

I have to humbly disagree and would like to suggest maybe the ministers should bring their overseas children home and let them have a taste of what BTN is.

The difference between the two BTN courses I attended is actually the age group. The first course was attended by pre-U students while the second one mostly comprised post-graduate students. The level of maturity of the participants in the two courses was obvious but still I could find a “gila kuasa” Penghulu making a fool of himself.

The second course gave us some real life stories in which I found really helpful. They included Namawee’s “Negarakuku”, the Kampung Baru incident, corruption statistics (with the then-ACA being the most corrupt) and others. Then we were separated into smaller groups of 10 to 15.

Now comes the bad part.

It was really weird when the groups were distributed, the non-Malays (including Sabah and Sarawak Bumiputeras) were grouped together in one or two groups. I was quite angry not to be part of the non-Malay group so that I could mingle with them more. (And, of course, the girl I fancied went to that group as well). Later, I realised why the distribution is like so.

From the two courses I attended, both facilitators that I got were downright RACISTS! In the first course in Balik Pulau, there were two Chinese girls in my group but that didn’t stop the fascist facilitator from bashing the Chinese and Indians as “bangsa pendatang” and making racist comments.

Since I had enough of him, I planned to question his motives but I didn’t want to embarrass him in front of the group and so I asked him one plain question right after the scheduled brainwashing class.

He was commenting on the way how “DAP-Cina” will administer the federal government. DAP was labelled as a communist party that will only anger the Malays because of its principles. And so, I asked him:

Just now you were talking your racist head out like the world is yours and now you are telling me the best you can do to the Chinese Penang government is to monitor their progress? Just because they are part of BN?

Why can’t you say the same about DAP?

I think he got a taste of his own medicine. He wanted to be ultra-Umno, ultra-Malay but deep in his heart, he knows that, being a big-headed veteran, we are all Malaysians after all and he shouldn’t play the racist card as he will end up answering tough questions like that with stupid answers like so.

I did nothing but shake my head and a slight smirk on my face.

BTN is such a good way to promote unity and to remind us of the sacrifices our forefathers made in order for us to enjoy peace and harmony in Malaysia.

However, these fascists who are roaming around freely trying to “convert” the participants into being anti-non-Malays have tainted the BTN image. They shouldn’t be allowed to even step foot on Malaysian soil at all!

Then, there was one question that the group had to answer, the one big fat question that all participants will be talking about after the course.

I knew right from the start that the answer was going to be:

“C: Give the project to the government-friendly consortium although it has poor knowledge and expertise about the project.”

It is because I know A and B had the keywords “Opposition” and “Foreign Company” respectively, and after all we only just had a so-called “healthy” one-way discussion with The Fascist so I urged the group to just pick C so that we could all go for an early lunch!

Apart from my own experience, I was told by a friend that her Muslim friend was asked one question that goes “If you have to choose one, would you pick the country first or your religion first?”

Being a boss for some time in a multinational company, she answered: “Islam first”.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, I will pick religion over country.”

“Why? Without our country, there will be no Islam!”

“No, I will choose Islam over country at all cost. I am a Muslimah.”

Muslimah indeed, not your Dina Zaman-like “Muslimah”.

And then The Fascist started sobbing and crying. When I heard that I was like?

“What? This is new! Now they are rejecting Islam over BN? Ya Allah! Crying some more?”

So yeah, I’m not saying that all facilitators are like that. I would say most of them are like that.

Depends on which group you are in.

I bet the facilitator in the non-Malay group would be more 1 Malaysia.

It’s sad… because I want to see more of the Komandos and the great people among the participants. Hey, I made many friends from the BTN courses (and many annoying ones too).

The fact of the matter is, BTN is great when the racial card is not played.

I am not sure if we are provided booklets to hate the Opposition nowadays, as reported by some (there weren’t any during my time), but if the BN people think BTN is their greatest weapon, they are just plain wrong.

We may look like kids. But we are not. People grow up, you know? And so do Malaysians.

Gblk7277:I have attended this BTN course. Yes, it is a brainwashing session where they were telling us that the other races must get a lesser amount of 'durian' because we are the 'pendatang' and we had agreed to accept a lesser amount.Therefore we could not question anything, just shut up and eat the 'durian' you get or go back to China or India. It's very much politically biased and they were showing recordings of the Bersih and Hindraf rallies saying chaos will take place if we don't support BN.And that our country will be destroyed. 'Learning about 1Malaysia, about nationalism and unity'? My foot.

Camverra Jose Maliamauv:In the year 2000, during my first year at Universiti Teknologi Petronas, I was one of those selected to attend the Kem Bina Negara. We were sent to an army camp in Kedah.Out of all the lectures and physical activities etc, I will always remember two main things. The first was a lecture and discussion during which the instructor concluded at the end that non- Malays should not question the special rights and privileges of the Malays and that we should just work harder to move up.And secondly, during another lecture, one of the 'threats to national security' that were highlighted was 'parti politik baru' (a coincidence that this was the year after 1999?).

SameSame: Well, well, now our deputy prime minister is lying! Can he proof what he is saying is correct? You know what amazes me is that they still think we are like them - so gullible and stupid.Well, our unwanted DPM, its obvious we are not stupid and we are not gullible. It's better you keep quiet instead of shooting yourself in your own foot (BN people love doing that it seems). '1Malaysia', my foot.

Chee Hoe Siew:Firstly, is there a law stating that civil servants and other public sector staff must attend these BTN camps? If not, then there is no need to even attend such propaganda camps.Lusiapa:Will past participants of such BTN courses step forward and give their testimony without fear or favour?Is the Selangor education, higher education and human capital development committee chairperson giving an honest assessment of the situation or is the DPM denying something which is unbelievably true?Obviously, one of them is not telling the truth. It is time that the liar be publicly exposed and condemned.

Giri:My blood is boiling. God, how can they lie like this?

Tkc: Mr Deputy PM, instead of 'he say, I say', I suggest you publish the text of the BTN courses on the Internet so that we can judge for ourselves. Oh, and please do not tell us it is classified under the OSA.

Azmil Tayeb:Bravo Selangor government for taking this progressive step. BTN is simply an organ of hate and shouldn't even be allowed to exist in the first place. True inculcation of citizenship values doesn't come from forced indoctrination, much less one that is racist in nature.KLeo:I testify to BN's dirty indoctrination at BTN camps. Mine was in 2005 just after I left school. Words in the many 'ceramah' included 'Ketuanan Melayu' and 'pendatang'. I remember being so angry with the camp facilitators that I almost argued with one of them in one of the discussion groups.I don't know if this is true camp-wide, but I do know that my fellow course mates that went with me - both Malay and non-Malay - were equally disgusted with the camp officials.

P Dev Anand Pillai: Syabas, Selangor government you have walked the talk. Keep up the good work and the people will be with you in the next general election. It is good to see that we have some brave Malay leaders who are bold enough to set the country on the path to greater unity as Malaysians first. Syabas again.

Lim Chong Leong: The Pakatan Rakyat states should introduce anti-racism, equality and meritocracy programmes to build up our youngsters towards a global mentality to prepare them for a brighter, more competitive future. We urgently need to neutralise the negative impact of the BTN.

1 comment:

Anonymous
said...

Of course the non-Malay Chinese and Indians can conduct their separate courses to neutralise BTN. But it would not get us anywhere. If this BTN speaks well of the PM's 1Malaysia, then we must surely be sorry for the state of situation prevailing in Malaysia today. As the song says -'where have all the flowers gone, when will they ever learn'?This country tends to breed more racicts than ever before. The true lesson from May 13 has yet to be learnt. And we all know where these racists stem from. Start looking at Putrajaya.malsia1206